"Sudden Price Spikes in Decades-Old Prescription Drugs," Testimony of Berna Heyman to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, April 27, 201"High-Price Drugs Are Increasing Federal Payments For Medicare Part D Catastrophic Coverage," Daniel Levinson, Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, January 2017..According to an article by StateNews.com, pharmaceutical manufacturers have been pouring millions of dollars into this year's Congressional campaigns..Since the start of the first CPI in 1940, the BLS has made changes to how it calculates price inflation - most recently announcing changes to how they collect price data. A new paper reports that the BLS has undertaken several pilot projects in an attempt to supplement and/or replace its traditional field collection of price data with "alternative sources." If that sounds suspicious, you have good reason to ask questions. The BLS Handbook of Methods lists more than 21 changes that economists have made to how they calculate the CPI since 198In most cases the so-called "improvements" tend to slow the measured rate of inflation. That means the growth in COLAs is cut and Social Security benefits grow more slowly over time. In short, this boils down to an erosion in the buying power of your Social Security benefits when, in reality, prices are actually going up..Despite receiving the largest Social Security cost of living adjustment in five years, the majority of retired and disabled beneficiaries will not see any increase in their net Social Security benefits in January, warns The Senior Citizens League. A big jump in Medicare Part B premiums is to blame. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently announced that the Medicare Part B premium will be 4 for next year. That's the same amount that the Part B premium is today, but tens of millions of Medicare beneficiaries are paying less than that this year. Millions of beneficiaries pay roughly less - and their annual COLA may not be enough to cover the difference..As a nation, we should want young adults and workers from all walks of life to aspire to serve their communities and become public servants. However, policies like these only discourage citizens from becoming teachers, firefighters, and public health workers..Representative Sheila Jackson Lee introduced H.R. 46 on January 3, 201It has since been referred..Members of Congress Support Key Legislation.This is exactly the wrong approach. Social Security is about economics, but it is also about our values. It's about who we are as a people, and what kind of country we are determined to build. Every person who represents you in Washington should be talking about protecting and expanding Social Security not cutting it..Check the insurer's financial strength. Since you may have your
